Trouble
by Siorah
Summary: Into everyone's life a little trouble will fall.
1. Chapter 1

Quinn and Brendan sat miserably on the parking barrier watching the waves.

"We are in so much trouble" Brendan observed to the world in general

"No, Brendan. I think we are beyond just plain trouble." Quinn responded

"Aloha Oi, Aloha Oi...Its a small world after all" Came some really off key singing from back of the car.

"Shut up, Colin!" the two yelled together

"Well, what are our options?" Quinn asked softly

"We could try to drive home." Brendan stated

"I don't know how to drive on the express way, and I don't know how else to get home from here." Quinn replied.

"We could wait until Colin sobers up." Brendan suggested.

"Well, my curfew is in five minutes, after that my Uncle will start calling me." Quinn replied

"I know, my Dad will do the same thing." Brendan agreed

"We're screwed" Brendan stated matter of factly.

"I know" Quinn groaned

"Well, who should we call?" Brendan said in a resigned voice.

"Maybe it would be better to miss curfew then to call someone to come get us with Colin like this." Quinn said slowly. "How long does it take for someone to sober up anyways?"

"I don't know" Brendan sighed

"Brendan, I don't want to lie to my Uncle. " Quinn said softly

"I know, I cant lie to my parents either. I just don't want them to see Colin like this." Brendan replied

"Okay, get the GPS going on you phone and we will try to drive home. Lets take the back routes." Quinn said decisively.

Thirty minutes later, the friends arrived at the Sullivan's street.

"I never want to do that again." said Quinn in relief while Brendan nodded in agreement

"Can you get Colin inside?" Quinn asked as they exited the car.

"Yeah, but how will you get home?" Brendan asked as he began to shake his brother awake.

"I will walk up the beach. But Brendan, I wont lie to my Uncle. I wont volunteer information, but I wont lie to him either." Quinn said certainly

"Text me when you get home." Brendan said

With the now silent Colin between them, Brendan and Quinn quietly made their way up the driveway. As they approached the house, Quinn went down the beach path for the mile walk to her house.

As she walked home all hope that she could slip by her Uncle and not have to explain the evenings events disappeared. Her Uncle was walking up the beach towards her. Briefly Quinn wondered if escaping by running up the beach or swimming to Japan was a possibility.

"Hi Uncle Steve." Quinn said uncertainly as he walked up to her.

"Did you drink any alcohol at the party tonight?" Steve asked calmly

"No, Uncle Steve. Brendan and I spent most of the evening waiting for Colin to take us home. We didn't drink" Quinn said carefully

"Okay, lets go." Steve said in the same calm voice

"Its been a really bad night." Quinn said in a small voice.

At this Steve turned to look at his niece "Your bad night is not over yet, little girl."

Quinn sighed tearfully "I know"

Hearing the sadness and underlying fear in the girl's voice Steve stopped and wrapped a firm arm around her and guided her back to the house.

As they entered the house Steve pointed the girl to the dinning room table. He then went into the kitchen and retrieved two bottles of water. Sitting opposite of the girl he handed her the bottle of water and stared at her waiting for her to begin.

Quinn rolled the bottle of water nervously between her hands, not being sure where to start.

Steve leaned forward and grabbed the bottle of water, setting it down firmly "If I were you, I would start explaining this entire evening Quinn Marie."

"We went to a party with Colin. Only when we got there it was only kids, no grown-ups. There was lots of stuff going on so Brendan and I went outside to wait for Colin."

Steve nodded "What kind of 'stuff' was going on?"

Quinn sighed "People were drinking and making out and smoking stuff."

Steve sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest "Then what happened?"

"We waited a long time, then Brendan went in and found Colin. He was really drunk, so we put him in the back seat and drove to a park to figure out what to do next. We thought maybe Colin would sober up enough to drive, but we didn't know how long that would take. Brendan didn't want his parents to see Colin all messed up, so we drove home using the backroads."

"Then I met you on the beach." Quinn finished up

"How did you know where I was?" Quinn asked as an afterthought.

Steve stared at the girl silently for a few minutes.

"The Sullivan's called me as soon as Colin and Brendan arrived home." Steve replied

"I'm really sorry Uncle Steve, I didn't know all this was going to happen." Quinn said nervously.

"Why didn't you call me?" Steve asked

"I guess we didn't want Colin to get in trouble." Quinn replied honestly

"I see, so the solution was for two inexperienced, unlicensed drivers to drive to the Sullivan's on some really treacherous roads. Then you decided that a one mile walk up a beach at 12:30 AM was the safest way to get home from a party none of you should have been at in the first place." Steve stated mildly

"Well..not exactly, I mean...Yeah. I guess that about sums it up." Quinn said sheepishly

"You put yourself in danger Quinn, and that is unacceptable." Steve said in the same calm voice

"You are grounded for a month. You will come home immediately from school. When the month is up, we will discuss your curfew again" Steve continued. "Because you seem to have issues with calling me you will practice by calling my cell everyday when you get home from school. I will call to check on you throughout the day, and you had better answer."

Quinn nodded miserably

Steve stood and pointed towards the stairs, as Quinn rose and began to walk across the living room he moved next to the girl, wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her three hard swats on her bottom.

Still holding her close he said in a firm low voice "I have already lost three members of my family, I will not lose you as well. You will never do anything like this again."

"Okay, I'm sorry." Quinn whispered before she fled up the stairs.

As Quinn lay in bed she reflected on the night. Being spanked was embarrassing and being grounded was going to be horrible, but all things considered she had gotten off pretty easy. Uncle Steve, she reflected, was still pretty new to the whole parental discipline thing.

Had her Grandfather been alive to find her on the beach, she would not have been able to sit comfortably for a week.

Now if she could just get through the month without more trouble.

It was going to be a long month.


	2. Chapter 2

Quinn was quietly minding her own business being grounded when the cloud of trouble that seemed to be following her lately found her. She had been finishing her homework when a frantic call from Brendan came in.

"Quinn, I need your help. Its Colin." Brendan said frantically

"What's wrong?" Quinn asked coming to a standstill in the middle of the living room.

"He has been drinking again, and he won't come out of the water. Nobody else is around, can you help me?" Brendan asked in exasperation.

"I will be right there." Quinn answered determinedly

As she began to run up the beach Quinn realized how much trouble she would be in. Pausing for a moment, she pulled out her cell phone and sent a text message to her Uncle.

From Quinn: Uncle Steve, Brendan called Colin won't come out of the water. I am going over to help him. I will come right back home.

When Quinn arrived at the beach by the Sullivan's house she saw Brendan pulling a surf board out their storage shed.

"He is out there and won't come in" Brendan said in exasperation

Quinn nodded and grabbed onto the side of the board together the friends swam out to where Colin was laying on his surf board.

When they arrived Quinn noticed two things, the tide was pulling Colin into a cove and he was doing nothing to stop it. The cove was lined with rocks and nothing else. The waves and the tide would push anyone against the rocks and hold them there. It was a dangerous place to get trapped.

"Colin!" Quinn yelled over the surf, "paddle towards us!"

Quinn watched in horror as the surfboard the boy was laying on capsized leaving him struggling in the rushing tide. Turning to her friend she said "Brendan, my Uncle should be home by now. Swim in and call him. He will come and help us. If he doesn't answer call 911."

Quinn swiftly paddled her surfboard towards Colin as Brendan took off for the shore.

Steve McGarrett was driving towards his house when he received a very puzzling message from his niece. Wondering why Brendan needed help to get his brother out of the water he turned his truck towards the beach nearest the Sullivan's house.

Two minutes later Steve's phone rang. When he answered it a frantic voice came through the speaker.

"Commander McGarrett, Quinn said to call you she is trying to help Colin, but he is getting pushed into a cove and I cant see them anymore" Brendan stammered in a panicked voice.

"Brendan, calm down, where are you?" Steve said sternly

"On the beach in front of my house, but they are out by the point where turtle cove is." Brendan said in a frightened voice "I am going back in to help them." he continued

"No! Brendan I will be there in five minutes, I need you to show me where they are. Stay on the beach." Steve ordered as he sped along the road that led to the Sullivan home.

Steve brought the truck to a stop, then jumped out and ran towards a frightened looking kid on the beach "Brendan, show me where!" Steve ordered calmly

As Brendan pointed out the area where Quinn and his brother were last seen. Steve pulled off his shirt and handed the boy his cell phone. "Call 911, right now. Tell the operator what is happening. Then call your parents."

"Yes, Sir" the boy responded

Steve ran into the surf and swiftly swam out to the point. Pausing to look around he saw a surfboard being pulled into the mouth of the cove. Swimming in that direction he soon spotted Quinn trying to keep Colin from also getting pulled into the cove. The boy was unconscious, but breathing. Quinn was not having a lot of luck keeping him on her surfboard. He kept falling off and she was frantically trying to keep him from slipping under the water. As Steve swam up he boosted the boy back onto the board. Then he pulled Quinn between his body and the board so she was safely between his arms and could hold onto the board to rest .

"Quinn, can you swim in?" Steve asked after letting the girl catch her breath

Quinn looked up at her Uncle and nodded. At this Steve dove under the board and came up on the other side, together they began to push the surfboard in. Steve kept one eye on the boy on the board and one eye on his niece. As they neared the shore, the rescue squad waded into the water to help them bring Colin out. As soon as they hit the sand they were assessing him.

"What happened?" The lead medic asked Steve.

"A near drowning and head injury, it looks like he got hit on his head with his board" Steve replied looking at Quinn for confirmation.

Quinn nodded wordlessly as her Uncle moved to stand next to her. Noticing she was shivering, he wrapped a reassuring arm around her pulling the frightened girl against his side.

Quinn looked past the truck as Mr and Mrs. Sullivan ran towards the ambulance "Brendan what happened?"

Brendan shook his head numbly "He wouldn't come out of the water."

The paramedic looked up "Okay folks we need to go. One parent should ride with us."

"I will go, you follow us in the car Mrs. Sullivan said to her husband"

"Brendan, you come with me. Steve, thank you, we will call as soon as we know anything." Jeff Sullivan said pulling his son towards the family car.

Quinn silently watched the cars and the ambulance pull out.

"Lets go home, there is nothing more we can do here." Steve said softly

As they arrived home Steve watched Quinn carefully. Recognizing that the girl was likely in shock quickly parked the truck and helped her from the truck cab.

"Uncle Steve, do you think Colin will be okay?" Quinn asked softly as they walked inside.

Steve looked at the girl "I hope so, Quinn. The Sullivan's will call us as soon as they can."

Quinn nodded tearfully "I tried to get him on the board, but he kept slipping off."

Steve nodded "Quinn you did everything possible to help. I know he is your friend, but you did not put him in the situation he was in."

Quinn nodded sadly "Thanks for coming to help us, Uncle Steve."

Steve smiled "I am glad you remembered to call me. Okay, you need to go and change out of your wet clothes and take a warm shower." Steve said directing the girl upstairs.

Steve took a moment to lock the front door, then headed upstairs to follow his own advice.

Twenty minutes later Steve was in the kitchen boiling water, when Quinn walked in a few minutes later Steve handed the girl a hot cup of sweetened herbal tea. "Drink this, I don't want you to have anything cold or with caffeine for a while." Steve told the girl gently.

Quinn nodded and sat at the kitchen table to drink her tea. Steve joined her, sipping his own cup of tea "When do you think we will hear?" Quinn asked her Uncle anxiously

"Evaluating a patient takes some time, Quinn. They will call when they can" Steve reassured his niece.

When she was finished with her tea, Quinn wandered into the living room and turned on the TV. Several minutes later , exhaustion overtook her and she fell asleep. Steve covered the girl with a light blanket and grabbed her cell phone and pocketed it with his own. He preferred to take the call from the Sullivan's and was unsure if they would call his phone, or Quinn's.

An hour later, Steve was sitting on the lanai when he received a call from Colin's Dad. The man sounded relieved, but angry. Colin would recover, but he was being evaluated for alcohol addiction, his blood alcohol content had been enough to induce alcohol poisoning. He would remain in the hospital then possibly move to a treatment center.

After offering his support, Steve hung up. He had suspected that Colin might have a problem, he wondered how to discuss the issue with Quinn.

Looking into the house he saw Quinn was in the kitchen getting a drink of water, walking into the house he called the girl to sit with him in the living room.

"Quinn, I just received a call from Colin's parents. He is going to be okay, but they are keeping him in the hospital for a few days." Steve told his niece calmly.

"Good, I was worried something was really wrong." Quinn said as she curled up in the corner of the couch.

Steve sighed and shook his head "Quinn, something is really wrong. Colin is being treated for alcohol poisoning."

Quinn looked at her Uncle in puzzlement "Alcohol is not a poison."

Steve stared at the girl for a moment, reminding himself that she was only fourteen.

"Quinn too much alcohol can depress the central nervous system and cause problems with breathing and heart" Steve said gently

"But Colin doesn't drink that much all the time." Quin said in a frightened voice.

Steve moved to sit next to the girl "Sweetheart, it only takes drinking excessively once for a person to get alcohol poisoning."

"I bet Colin is going to be grounded for a long time when he gets home tomorrow" Quinn said softly

"I am not sure that Colin is going to come home tomorrow, Quinn, His parents are having him evaluated for substance abuse treatment." Steve replied

"He doesn't use drugs..." Quinn began

"Alcohol is a drug." Steve said firmly

"But Colin just likes to drink once in awhile, its not everyday." Quinn insisted

At her Uncle's shocked expression, Quinn added hastily "I mean, I know he shouldn't drink, cause he is to young. But why would they lock him up for it?"

Steve sighed, deciding it was time for some hard truths. "Quinn, do you drink alcohol?"

Quinn shook her head "No, of course not."

Steve nodded "Why not?"

Quinn shrugged "I am not old enough and you would be really mad."

Steve nodded "Correct on all accounts. I want you to think about this, if its not okay for you to drink why is it okay for Colin to drink?"

Quin hesitated "Its not okay, but why would they lock him up? I mean he can just stop and not drink anymore."

"Quinn, do you know what an alcoholic is?" Steve asked curiously

"Yes, Its a person who drinks all the time." Quinn replied

"No, it is a person who can't go through a day without drinking. I need you to think about something, how often does Colin drink? " Steve said watching the girl carefully

"Not everyday." Quin said angrily curling herself further into the corner of the couch.

Steve turned sideways so he could maintain eye contact with the girl.

"Quinn, twice in the last week Colin has been drunk. This last time he nearly drowned, and he endangered both you and Brendan." Steve looked steadily at his niece "I suspect, that this is not the first time that he has put you and Brendan in a bad situation."

Quinn squirmed uncomfortably under her Uncle's steady gaze.

"But, why can't he just come home ?" Quinn asked sadly

"An alcoholic can't stop drinking without help, Quinn. Colin needs help or he will continue to drink and will eventually hurt himself. Going to a treatment center will help Colin start to fix the problem." Steve said firmly

At Quinn's skeptical look Steve continued "If you are still having doubts, think about this. What would have happened if you and Brendan hadn't been there to help today?"

Quinn nodded slowly.

"Do you think he is an alcoholic person Uncle Steve?" Quinn asked softly

Steve answered a question with a question "How many times have you seen Colin under the influence of alcohol?"

Quinn looked at him nervously "I don't know, maybe four or five times, I guess." Quinn broke off thinking about the question "there was a few times when it was scary to be in the car with him and sometimes we have had to take his keys away and not let him drive." she continued softly.

Steve narrowed his eyes, startled by the revelation that his young niece had ridden in the car with a person who was intoxicated. "You rode in the car with Colin when he had been drinking?"

Frightened by her Uncle's angry tone, Quinn nodded silently.

"Quinn, you are never to do that again! If the person driving has been drinking you do not get in the car with them at all!" Steve said after consciously calming his voice.

"Okay, it happened a long time ago. Before you came home." Quinn whispered

"I also don't want you in any car Colin drives again." Steve said firmly

"But.." Quinn began

"Quinn, this is not negotiable. Plus, I really don't think Colin is going to be allowed to drive any time in the near future." Steve said as his niece started to protest.

Quinn looked at her Uncle's expression and decided that challenging him on this issue would be silly, because he was right.

"Okay." the girl said softly

Steve, seeing the acceptance of his words in the girl's eyes continued "Quinn, try not to worry. The Sullivan's are going to see to it that Colin gets help."

Quinn pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned against the back of the couch. "I think Brendan will be relieved, he was worried about Colin a lot."

Steve smiled wryly visualizing all the times he had tried to help Mary "I am sure he is very worried."

Quinn frowned "Do you think Mr & Mrs. Sullivan are mad at Brendan?" she asked slowly

"Yes, but only for trying to hide the problem from them." Steve replied

"Oh" Quinn thought a moment

Steve smiled "Before you ask, no I am not mad at you because you called me when things became dangerous. Yes, you are still grounded, but for the same amount of time. But, if you ever get into a car with a driver who has been drinking the consequences will be severe. Are we clear?" He continued sternly

Quinn nodded then smiled sheepishly "I hope the next three weeks are uneventful."

Steve stood and moved towards the kitchen "Yes indeed, little girl, it would be a good idea if you stayed out of mischief."

Quinn looked over at her Uncle with a grin "Grandad used to say that you could not go more then an hour without trouble finding you. Maybe it is genetic ?"

Steve looked at his niece with an arched eyebrow "I am sure he meant Mary."

Quinn grinned and shook her head "Nope, he said you."

Steve rolled his eyes "All said to make you feel better about being a mischief magnet."

Quinn shook her head " I don't think anyone who knows you will believe that."

Steve smiled at that thought "Well there might be some truth in that..."


End file.
